273 ChThe Top-Tier Second Sister-in-Law of the Number One Scholar
探花郎的極品二嫂
Meng Qing is an ordinary transmigator. Born into the Tang Dynasty, she is the eldest daughter of a papermaking shop in Suzhou, Jiangnan. After eighteen years of a carefree life, she chose a promising marriage for herself.
In a dynasty that prioritized agriculture and suppressed commerce, as a merchant's daughter, Meng Qing wanted to change her social status and give her descendants the opportunity to study and enter officialdom. She invested strategically, bringing a substantial dowry, and married Du Li, the second brother of Du Min, a poor scholar often at the top of Chongwen Academy.
In the second year of her marriage, after giving birth to her child, she had a dream. In the dream, her younger brother-in-law Du Min would pass the imperial examination three years later, riding through Chang'an and picking famous flowers. The Du family would temporarily be at the height of its prestige. However, she, the investor, would suffer from a damaged reputation, becoming the "top-tier second sister-in-law" of the Number One Scholar, despised by all.
The first reason was her stinginess: when she spent two taels of silver for her brother-in-law, she would make sure the whole village knew, causing the scholar to lose face. The second was her mercenary nature: using the scholar's good name to drum up business for her maiden family, humiliating the scholar in front of his classmates.
The third reason was that she was denounced as a family wrecker, manipulating her husband Du Li to go against his parents, always favoring her and leaning towards her in-laws. The fourth was even more serious: in the dream, she unreasonably wanted to have her child adopted by her brother-in-law!
Meng Qing woke up in a fit of anger. Thinking of the scenes in her dream, she then smiled; things were getting interesting.
Du Li's family was poor. To support his extremely talented third brother in his studies, he was over twenty and his marriage was still unsettled. He knew in his heart that his marriage would also be a bargaining chip to fund his third brother's education.
To prevent both him and his wife from becoming the family's beasts of burden, he secretly tried every means to ruin two almost-arranged marriages. When Meng Qing deliberately set up a situation to encounter him, he knew her intentions perfectly well.
Du Li knew Meng Qing, the eldest daughter of the Meng family's papermaking shop. She was articulate, had a pleasing appearance, was excellent at business, and was a famous
